The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-08-05

them ont Of IL We forget that every a..
ditof has % much capscity Of attention,
and when that IL exhausted he 10 restless.
That ccident On the Long Island rail.
road some years ago came from the fact
that the brakes were out Of order, and
when they wanted to stop the train they
could not stop. and hence the casualty
was teri 40. In all relig.
ious discourse we want loco
motive power and propulsion.
We want, at the same time, stout brakes
to let down Ut the right instant Il 10 q
dismal thing, after hearer has compre'
hended the whole subject, to hear . man
say:
Snow to recapitulate," and ~ few
words BY way Of application" and ''once
more" and '.tinslly," and NOW to con-
clude."
Paul preached until midnight and
Eutychus got sound asleep and fell out Of
q window and broks his neck. Some
would say:
'Good for him.
would rather be sympathetic like Paul
and resuscitate him. That accident Is
often quoted now in religious circles ss q
warning against somnolence in church.
1t IL just as much warning to ministers
against prolixity. Eutychus was wrong
in his somnolence. but Paul made mis-
take when he kept on until midnight. He
ought to have stopped at eleven o'clock,
and there would have been no accident,
II Paul might have gone on to too great
length, let all Of US who are now preach.
ing the Gospel remember that there Is q
limit to religious discourse, or ought to
be, and that in our time we have no apos-
tolic power of miracles
Napcle leon IN an address Of seven min
utes thrilled his army, and thrilled
Europe. Christ's sermon on the mount,
the model sermon, was less than eighteen
minutes long at ordinary mode of de-
livery. 1t is not electricity scattered all
over the sky that strikes. but electricity
gathered in a thund erbolt and hurled, and
1t Is rot religious truth scattered over.
spread out over vast reach Of time, but
religious truth projected In compact
form that fashes light upon the soul and
rives its Indifference.
When the religious discourse of the
future arrives in this LAM and in the
Christian Church, the discourse which is
to arouse the world and startle the ma
tions and usher in the kingdom, il will
be q brief discourse. Hear it all, theo-
logical students; all ye Just entering
upon religious work; all ye men and
women who, in Sabbath schools and other
departments, are toiling for Christ and
the salvation Of immortals. Brevity I
Brevityi
But remark also that the religious dis
course Of the future, Of which speak,
Will be q popular discourse. There are
those in these times who speak of q pop
ular sermon rs though th,re must be
something wrong about it. As these
critics are dull themselves, the world
gets the impression that sermon is good
in proportion as it is stupid. Christ was
the most popular preacher the world
ever saw, and, considering the small num-
Der Of the worlds population, had the
largest audiences ever gathered. He
never preached anywhere without max
ing great sensation. People rushed out
in the wilderness to hear him. reckless Of
their physical necessities. So great was
their anxiety to hear Christ that, taking
no food with them, they would have fam
ished and starved had not Christ per-
formed q miracle and fed them.
Why did so many people take the truth
at Christs handsl Because they all un-
derstood it. He illustrated his subject by
hen and her chickens, by q
bushel measure, by handful Of
salt, by a birds fight and by lily's
aroma. All the people knew what he
meant and they f1ockel to him. And
when the religious discourse Of the fut-
ure appears it will not be Princetonian,
not Rochesterian, not Andoverian, not
Middletonian, but Olivetic-plain, prac-
tical, unique, earnest, comprehensive Of
all the woes, wants, sins, sorrows and
necessities Of an auditory.
But when that exhortation or discourse
does come there will DO q thousand
CLEAN ing scimetars to charge on il.
There are in SO many theological semi
naries professors telling young men how
to preach, themselves not knowing how,
and am told that if young man in some
of our theological seminaries says any.
thing quaint, or thrilling, or unique,
faculty and students fly at him and set
him right, and straighten him ont, and
smooth him down, and chop him OF. until
he says every thing just as every body
else says 1t.
Oh, when the future religious discourse
of the Christian Church arrives, all the
Churches of Christ in our great cities
will DO thronged. The world wants spir-
itual help. All who have buried their
dead want comfort. All know them.
selves to be mortal and to be immortal
and they want to hear about the great
future. / tell you my friends, if the PEG.
pie Of our great cities who have had
trouble only thought they could get
practical and sympathetic help in the
Christian Church, there would not be .
street in New York, .or Brooklyn, or Chi.
cago, or Charleston, or Philadelphia, or
Boston which would be passable on the
Sabbath day il there were a church on it;
for all the people would press to that
asylum Of mercy, that great house Of
comfort and consolation.
A mother with dead baby in her arms
came to the God Veda and asked to have
her child restored to life. The God Veda
said to her:
"You go and get handful Of mustard
seed from house in which there has been
no sorrow, and in which there has been
no death, and will restore your child to
life"
So the mother went out and she went
from house to house, and from home to
home, looking for place where there
had been no sorrow and where there had
been no death. but she found none. She
went back to the god Veda and said:
"My mission is failure. You sec I
haven't brought the mustard seed; can't
find place where has boen NO sorrow
and no death"
'Oh," says the god veda, understand
your sorrows are no worse than the sor-
rows OF others. We all have our griefs
and all have our heart-breaks."
Laugh and the world laughs with you;
Weep and You weep alone,
Eor the sad old Garth must h0rrnX ifa mirfh.